Web comic artist, Randall Munroe has a great cartoon up today. Of course, the cartoon isn’t about books, it’s about provenance, marketing and how we interpret things based on where they come from. And it’s about the ethics of selling something that pretends to do something it isn’t. (Hint: check the title of the post).…
Many successful, serious authors are in love with the notion that they get to be serious and successful merely by writing. There was a brief interlude, perhaps 50 years in all post-Gutenberg, in which it was possible for a talented writer to be chosen, anointed, edited, promoted and paid for her work. Where the ‘work’…
Here’s a bit of speculation: Soon, there will be three kinds of books on the Kindle. $1.99 ebooks. This is the clearing price for virtually all ebooks going forward. $5 ebooks. This is the price for bestsellers, hot titles and books you have no choice but to buy because they were assigned in school. $10…
Domino is publishing Death and Taxes today. Up until now, there hasn’t been an effective distribution method for posters like this. A store needs to keep them in a tube, and without being able to stare at it, it’s hard to tell you want one. The notion that a book can hang on the wall,…
There are countless new publishers being created. Online podcasts, talk shows, ebook publishers, new kinds of film studios and record labels–all of them need talent. Here’s a four word acronym of what talent wants (along with two things it no longer needs) MONEY: This is the easiest one, because it’s simple to measure. When in…
